Need Help with a Logic Puzzle

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

I have 36 squares in 4 colors, aranged in a 6x6 format

10 for #1

10 for #2

10 for #3

6 for #4 (this is the darkest color and I am trying to limit its use as it will draw the eye anyway)

I don't want any more than 3 of one color touching, including on the diagonals and no more than 2 next to each other

eta: #4's shouldn't be next to each other, and no more than 2 connecting on the diagonal (just realized that was an issue too)

The pattern does repeat on the shelves and backboard, but with the dividers in place, it shouldn't be a problem if a row ends with the color it starts with (but I have been trying to avoid this)

It doesn't seem that hard, but when I look at it, I am trying to make sure there is no one color that dominates an area and that is proving the tricky part. I seem to be able to get 3 of the 4 colors good, but there is always one that has too many contacts.

I am testing patterns out on my desk at work using 4 colors of sticky notes.

If anyone can come up with a pattern for me, I'd appreciate it.

 

Why am I doing this? Because I am insane

I am making my son a cube style bookcase.  it is 3' wide by 5' high (just about 1m x 1.6m) and painting it like Minecraft.     Each cube is 12"   I started with 1" squares and stencils.  Thing is, that is 144 squares per section, and each shelf has 17 sections, except the green (grass) which has 20 (ok, 19.5 as I had to cut out an area for the light switch)  anyway, using each stencil that many times became very messy.  I got frustrated and I have repainted them back to the base colors and am trying again.

I switched to 2" squares (36 per section) and had the idea of using painters tape, but that didn't work out either (too hard to get the pieces all lined up, took a hour to do 2 sections, so I will be hand painting it.  But I also discovered I can't just do a random order of the colors like I did when they were only 1 inch squares as it creates large color blocks if you're not careful

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

I have this one, but my only problem is the #1's in the first and last columns

3	2	2	4	3	1
1	3	1	3	1	2
2	4	2	2	4	1
3	3	1	1	3	2
1	4	2	3	1	4

2

1

3

2

4

3

 

[The guy from the Vale]

How about alternating rows of 1&2 and 3&4, respectively? something like

1 2 1 2 1 2

3 4 3 4 3 1

1 2 1 2 1 2

3 4 3 4 3 4

1 2 1 2 1 2

2 3 4 3 4 3

 

This isn't quite working out yet, but consider switching out some tiles at the border and you should be good to go.

[The guy from the Vale]

I have this one, but my only problem is the #1's in the first and last columns

3	2	2	4	3	1
1	3	1	3	1	2
2	4	2	2	4	1
3	3	1	1	3	2
1	4	2	3	1	4

2

1

3

2

4

3

 

take the 1 in the third row down one row and swap with the 2 there. Pull the 1 in the 5th row down or right and swap with the 4 there.

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

How about alternating rows of 1&2 and 3&4, respectively? something like

1 2 1 2 1 2

3 4 3 4 3 1

1 2 1 2 1 2

3 4 3 4 3 4

1 2 1 2 1 2

2 3 4 3 4 3

 

This isn't quite working out yet, but consider switching out some tiles at the border and you should be good to go.

thanks.  I am trying to avoid an obvious pattern as I want that Minecraft look, but it is something to play with.  trying it in blues, it looks like this:

1	2	1	2	1	2
3	4	3	4	3	4
1	2	1	2	1	2
3	4	3	4	3	4
1	2	1	2	1	2
3	4	3	4	3	4

take the 1 in the third row down one row and swap with the 2 there. Pull the 1 in the 5th row down or right and swap with the 4 there.

Thank you!  this is definately closer.  Now to fix the 4's as 3 of the 6 are now in the same row...maybe if I move it up, and switch it out with the 1? the 4's still seem bunched up, and now I have 3 together (and I can see another rule I need to add.  I knew I was forgetting something)

2	2	4	3	1
3	1	3	1	2
4	2	2	4	2
3	1	1	3	4
4	2	3	4	1
1	3	2	1	3

[Biglose]

<table>
    <tr><th>1</th><th>2</th><th>1</th><th>3</th><th>1</th><th>3</th></tr>
    <tr><th>2</th><th>3</th><th>2</th><th>4</th><th>2</th><th>1</th></tr>
    <tr><th>1</th><th>4</th><th>2</th><th>3</th><th>2</th><th>3</th></tr>
    <tr><th>2</th><th>3</th><th>1</th><th>3</th><th>4</th><th>1</th></tr>
    <tr><th>1</th><th>4</th><th>2</th><th>4</th><th>2</th><th>2</th></tr>
    <tr><th>2</th><th>3</th><th>3</th><th>1</th><th>1</th><th>3</th></tr>
</table>

Ok, I give up. Tried with head, without head, with body withou...strange does not work...

so without code:

1 2 1 3 1 3
2 3 2 4 2 1
1 4 2 3 2 3
2 3 1 3 4 1
1 4 2 4 2 2
2 3 3 1 1 3

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

<table>
    <tr><th>1</th><th>2</th><th>1</th><th>3</th><th>1</th><th>3</th></tr>
    <tr><th>2</th><th>3</th><th>2</th><th>4</th><th>2</th><th>1</th></tr>
    <tr><th>1</th><th>4</th><th>2</th><th>3</th><th>2</th><th>3</th></tr>
    <tr><th>2</th><th>3</th><th>1</th><th>3</th><th>4</th><th>1</th></tr>
    <tr><th>1</th><th>4</th><th>2</th><th>4</th><th>2</th><th>2</th></tr>
    <tr><th>2</th><th>3</th><th>3</th><th>1</th><th>1</th><th>3</th></tr>
</table>

Sorry, to lazy for colors...

Thank you.  It is pretty close (put a 4 in for a 2 in the first row to make the numbers correct)

1	4	1	3	1	3
2	3	2	4	2	1
1	4	2	3	2	3
2	3	1	3	4	1
1	4	2	4	2	2
2	3	3	1	1	3

[Biglose]

May I ask how you add your tables?

 

Edit: And yes, sorry, that was my misstake I kind of misstyped.

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

 

 

May I ask how you add your tables?

 

Edit: And yes, sorry, that was my misstake I kind of misstyped.

I  just copy them from excel and paste them here. 

I think I have it worked out.  Had to make a slight change to the "nether" as the red really pops and it had an obvious bar going across it, but it doesn't show up in the other colors. The colors aren't exact, but this is close to what the back board should look like:

 

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

For those who helped me out, a huge thanks.  I haven't quite finished as I need to fix the top shelf. I had to make a last minute design change as it looked stupid with the half sized cube, then there was a squaring issue.  (I'll do that this weekend) but the pattern worked out very nicely.  The square pieces (and the sides) I rotated to make the patterns on them appear different when they were positioned.

And I adjusted the grey section as my son told me it needed to be mostly the med grey color (also, I was using a lot of left over paints, so some of the colors were not necessarily what I had planned_

assembled: http://imgur.com/a/4W8f4

just the backboard: